Grenoble delegation visits Capital Region

A delegation of university and economic development leaders from the Grenoble region of France is visiting the Capital Region this week as part of a week-long tour of New York and Canada set up by the Center for Economic Growth in Albany.

Brian Hannafin, vice president of business development and marketing for CEG, said this afternoon that the delegation was currently at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy meeting with college, state government and business leaders, including executives from General Electric and Siemens.

Earlier in the day, the group visited Plug Power Inc. in Latham, the fuel cell manufacturer. Yesterday, it was at Cornell University and Binghamton University. It also visited Montreal.

Hannafin said the Grenoble region shares a lot of the same nanotechnology and microtechnology research capabilities that the Capital Region has, and officials from both regions have met one another at various international conferences and trade shows.

“Our paths have crossed a bit at similar events,” Hannafin said. “There’s a lot of opportunities to complement each other.”

In October, Hannafin traveled with other local economic development officials to Grenoble, which is in the south of France, to sign a memorandum of understanding (Hannafin is at far left in the photo) with the Agence d’Etudes et de Promotion de l’Isere, also known as l’AEPI, the economic development agency for the Grenoble-Isere area.